Alternative Media and the Notion of Anti-Systemness: Towards an Analytical Framework

Abstract

A range of alternative media outlets focusing on criticizing immigration politics and mainstream media have emerged in Sweden in recent years. Although they have quite different ideological profiles, they share a clear and critical focus on immigration and mainstream journalistic representations of reality. Their message is that mainstream media conceal or distort information about negative societal and cultural consequences of immigration and that mainstream journalists have teamed up with the political elites and engage in witch-hunts of critics, while ignoring abuses by those in power. Such media outlets (especially online participatory media) need to be analyzed in the light of their position as <em>self</em>-<em>perceived correctives</em> of traditional media. There has been a remarkable surge of alternative media in Sweden with these traits in common during the past few years, and it is important to be able to discuss these media together as a phenomenon, while at the same time taking their differences into account. In relation to this, I argue that the notion of anti-systemness is useful in discussions of the impact these alternative media may (or may not) have on public discourse. In the article, I present a matrix that distinguishes between different types of anti-systemness: ideological anti-systemness and relational anti-systemness. The article therefore mainly presents a theoretical argument, rather than empirical findings, with the aim of pointing to a way forward for research about alternative media.

Beyond Breitbart: Comparing Right‐Wing Digital News Infrastructures in Six Western Democracies

“…Research findings beyond the U.S. context are sparser. Focusing on aspects of media criticism and media distrust as a fundament of so‐called “immigrant‐critical alternative media” in Sweden, Holt (; ) argues that this alternative news environment is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity that is best analyzed in terms of the degree of “anti‐systemness” exhibited by the different outlets in their communication on various platforms. Research on German‐language RNS has so far mainly focused on their print editions, disregarding the increasing use of digital platforms by these outlets.…”

Who Uses Right-Wing Alternative Online Media? An Exploration of Audience Characteristics

“…That is, alternative media are critical of the general public discourse, and this is reflected in their critical stance towards traditional media, which are perceived as the main driver of the general public discourse. This is frequently accompanied by skepticism towards, and may sometimes even result in distrust in, traditional media, depending on the specific news medium (Holt, 2018). Accordingly, Tsfati and Cappella (2003, p. 504) showed that "media skepticism is negatively associated with mainstream news exposure but positively associated with nonmainstream news exposure."…”

Boundary Work: Intermedia Agenda-Setting Between Right-Wing Alternative Media and Professional Journalism

“…Despite this fact, these outlets tend to mimic mainstream online newspapers regarding their layout and journalistic style (Nygaard 2019). As such, they come across as quite controversial among professional journalists (Holt 2018). This raises the question of how professional Scandinavian journalism reacts to new quasi-journalistic actors that challenge the boundaries of acceptable journalistic practices and espouse controversial ideological views.…”